You would think the hardest part of beating honour mode in Baldur’s Gate 3 is all the big, nasty boss battles. Well, yes, you would be right for thinking that, but as anyone with a couple of playthroughs under their belt will know, you can actually avoid a few of these if you’re smart about it.
Yet, just as easily, you can talk your way into a fight you are woefully unprepared for as well. Gortash is a particularly bad offender for this, and as one unfortunate player discovered, choosing the wrong dialogue option with him can give you a game over right before the final stretch.
If You Want To Beat Honour Mode, Don’t Let Gortash Think You’re Weak
“Just lost my Honor Run to a dialogue choice,” says the Reddit user. “I had sided with Gortash and I just beat Orin. I got Gale’s story all set up for him to nuke himself at the stem. I went back to Gortash and gave him the stone, but apparently that was too easy for him and he doesn’t want to be my partner anymore so he attacked.”
As they go on to explain, they were not expecting a boss battle, so they hadn’t rested or come in with any supplies that could help them out. The ensuing fight means that the 70-hour playthrough was flushed down the drain.
So, what went wrong? You absolutely can form an alliance with Gortash that allows you to skip his boss fight, you just have to play your cards right. Basically, do what they did and get Orin’s netherstone. Bring it to Gortash, but refuse to hand it over, keeping it to yourself as insurance. Turns out, asking you to hand the stone over was a test to see if you’re a smart enough ally. Handing it over tells him that you are not, starting the boss fight.
Honestly, the player did well to navigate Gortash to this point, as he is incredibly easy to agitate. Not showing proper deference during his coronation as Archduke will make the entire room hostile to you, and at that point in the game, you’ll struggle to take down one of the Steel Watch, let alone an entire room of them – plus Gortash, the Flaming Fist, Ulder Ravengard, and all the various traps around the place.
As many in the replies to the Reddit post have said, you really should not experiment during your Honour Mode run. Get a path in mind, and stick to it. You never know how someone will react if you say the wrong thing…
- Released
-
August 3, 2023
- ESRB
-
M for Mature: Blood and Gore, Partial Nudity, Sexual Content, Strong Language, Violence
- Engine
-
Divinity 4.0
- Multiplayer
-
Online Co-Op, Local Co-Op
- Cross-Platform Play
-
Full cross-platform play.
